One form of cutting device is described in international patent specification WO 2008/014546. The contents of that document are incorporated herein by way of cross-reference. The device is a manually operable cutter device for cutting flexible sheet material and comprises a cutter body which is movable over a work surface on which the flexible sheet being cut can rest. The device includes a cutting blade assembly operatively mounted to the cutter body and including a first rotatable cutter blade having a peripheral edge portion and a second cutter blade which is mounted in a substantially fixed position relative to the rotatable blade, the blade being adapted to cooperate together to provide a cutting zone in which sheet material can be cut. The rotatable cutting blade is mounted for rotation about an axis which extends generally laterally with respect to a normal feed direction of the sheet material to the cutting zone and the direction of rotation of the peripheral edge portion through the cutting zone is in the normal feed direction. The tangential peripheral speed of the rotating cutter blade in the cutting zone is not less than the speed of the feed of sheet material to the cutting zone.
Whilst this device provides significant advantages over conventional cutters it can encounter problems in particular when the sheet material is relatively thick because the second blade has a relatively small and substantially stationary contact zone which tends to get hot if speed and force are high. The heating can cause local welding or galling resulting in a gritty feel and deterioration of the cutting edge. Conventional scissors can also encounter problems where they are required to cut sheeting of different thicknesses. The thicker material increases the operating force during opening and closing of the blades.